Maplewood man shot after police chase is charged with St. Paul murder

A St. Paul police officer pulled over the car to investigate a broken window -- and wound up face to face with a suspected killer.

When the driver allegedly pointed a gun at the officer and a colleague, they opened fire, wounding Brandon Gerard Christopher, 19, in the leg Friday in the city's North End.

The gun that Christopher had was the same weapon he had used to fatally shoot someone in Dayton's Bluff a few days earlier, he reportedly later told police.

"This is a unique situation where two officers are out on a traffic stop. ... The guy in the car offers a handgun at them," Sgt. Paul Paulos, a St. Paul police spokesman, said Tuesday. "They do fire on that suspect. And guess what? He's a homicide suspect as well.

Brandon Gerard Christopher (Courtesy of the Ramsey County sheriff's office)

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Investigators -- working separately on the traffic-stop shooting and the homicide in the same office -- soon realized their cases overlapped, Paulos said.

The Ramsey County attorney's office charged Christopher of Maplewood on Tuesday with intentional and unintentional second-degree murder in the death of Evan Trenton Brown, 28.

Police had been called about a man apparently dead in a home in the 800 block of East Fourth Street about 3:32 a.m. Nov. 26. They found Brown, dead with a gunshot wound to the head.

Atop his body was a silver metal rod, about 4 inches long and a quarter-inch in diameter. An investigator recognized it as a possible gun part, according to the criminal complaint.

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When police recovered a silver handgun in the car that Christopher was driving Friday, they saw it was missing the extractor rod, the complaint said. Questioned by police, Christopher said he'd shot Brown with that handgun, the complaint said.

The complaint gives the following additional information:

When Brown's body was found, police recovered two bags of pills believed to be the drug Ecstasy. Next to Brown was a loaded revolver that had not been fired and wasn't missing parts.

The home in the 800 block of East Fourth Street in St. Paul where Evan Trenton Brown, 28, was found dead of a gunshot wound on Nov. 26, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Mara H. Gottfried)

Investigators learned that Brown had had a party at the residence, where alcohol and drugs had been used. Witnesses said a man named Brandon was there, flashing a silver handgun. He left and then returned to the party to get a phone another attendee had left behind.

Brandon got out of a vehicle about three blocks from the residence and, several minutes later, called the driver to pick him up in the alley behind the Fourth Street home. A witness in the car described the smell of gunpowder when Brandon entered.

"I just smoked that guy," Brandon said, according to the complaint. He told the driver to "get going." They went to Hastings, where Brandon picked up a dark blue Chrysler 300 and drove away. Witnesses said it had a broken rear passenger window.

Investigators identified the suspect as Brandon Christopher.

On Friday, St. Paul police officer Michael Tschida tried to stop a Chrysler 300 with a broken rear passenger window to look into whether it was a stolen car because a broken-out car window can be used as an entry point. The Chrysler turned out to be an unreported stolen car, but officers didn't know that at the time, Paulos said.

The driver, later named as Christopher, led police on a chase and eventually struck a parked car near Front Avenue and Woodbridge Street. When Christopher tried to leave the car, police said he pointed a silver handgun at officers, who fired and wounded him.

When police questioned Christopher about the killing, "he suggested that the deceased startled him when he entered the home, so he turned and shot him," the complaint said.

"He acknowledged that there were bags of pills, a box of ammunition and some money in the electrical box located above (Brown's) body. He stated that he took the ammunition after the shooting but he denied taking the money."

Witnesses at the party said Brown had been bragging about having a large amount of cash -- about $8,000. Police did not find a large amount of cash in the home while they were investigating.

Police had arrested two other people in the homicide last week, but they were released with no charges.

Christopher is also charged with second-degree assault and fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle in the incident Friday with police in the North End.

After he was shot, Christopher was taken to Regions Hospital for treatment and was booked into the Ramsey County Jail over the weekend.

Police identified the officers involved in shooting Christopher as Tschida and Darin McDonald.

According to the department, Tschida joined the force in October 2009, has received a medal of commendation and six other letters of recognition or thank-you letters. The police chief gave him a 30-day suspension in October for a workplace conduct issue; additional information wasn't immediately available.

McDonald joined the department in October 2007 and has received 17 thank-you letters and letters of recognition, and one other honor. He received an oral reprimand in 2011 for a preventable accident, a one-day suspension in 2012 for a preventable accident, and an oral reprimand in January for missing a shooting training.